Driving Life Over the Edge | Paul Ehrlich

Human population has exploded, species extinction has accelerated, and humanity is busy “sawing off the limb on which it is perched”. Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, joins us.  Author of over 40 books, including the best-selling book The Population Bomb, published in 1968, Dr. Ehrlich was made more famous by numerous appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - the largest late night show in the 1960’s and 70’s. We got the rare opportunity to chat with him about his decades-long career in sustainable population advocacy, his studies on natural butterfly populations, as well as his interest in cultural evolution with respect to environmental ethics. We delved into:  Why the population bomb was not a dud;  Humanity’s evolution over the last 300,000 years and the misunderstood and manufactured “normal” that currently defines us;  The need to end the unhelpful consumption vs. population debate;  Optimal population size and wealth redistribution for a decent standard of living for   all;  The ethics of nation states and borders;  Rights to nature;  The threat of a nuclear war;  The impacts of the agricultural revolution on the human jaw;  The maddening rate of planetary degradation and biodiversity loss and a variety of   actions that could be undertaken. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript: https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/paul-ehrlich   ABOUT US OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance [Formerly The Overpopulation Podcast] OVERSHOOT tackles today’s interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity’s excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance.  Learn more at populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance